In Brunei, a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia, they are enforcing a new Islamic law – punishing gay sex and adultery by being stoned to death. An abundance of people have been triggered, much larger than the tiny Southeast Asian nation’s shores.

In Brunei, before 2014, homosexuality would be punished by going to jail for up to 10 years. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah instituted the code in 2014 to bolster the influence of Islam in the oil-rich monarchy of about 430,000 people, two thirds which are Muslim. But under the new laws, which also apply to children and foreigners, even if they are not Muslim, people that were found to be having gay sex would be stoned and/or whipped to death.

“Living in Brunei, we already knew that our sexual identity is taboo and should not be expressed. We already felt belittled before the law came to place,” said a 23-year-old Bruneian member of the LGBTQ community. “Now with it, we feel even smaller and the ones who could potentially oppress us have more opportunity to harass us to say and do what they want,” he said.

On Tuesday, the United States joined the United Kingdom, Germany, and France to try and stop Brunei’s plans. Hollywood actor George Clooney and many other celebrities have called for a boycott of the luxury hotels. TV host Ellen DeGeneres also called for people to “rise up”, saying “we need to do something now”.

Tomorrow, April 3rd, the country of #Brunei will start stoning gay people to death. We need to do something now. Please boycott these hotels owned by the Sultan of Brunei. Raise your voices now. Spread the word. Rise up. pic.twitter.com/24KJsemPGH

— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) April 2, 2019